$10 million suit filed by miner

Posted on Aug 29, 2014 10:15am PDT

PIKEVILLE - Jason Smith, a 33-year-old resident of Sitka, has alleged
in a civil lawsuit filed in the Pike Circuit Court that he has received
“serious, permanent and life-altering” injuries as a result
of the “reckless” and “negligent” operation of
a loaded coal truck.

According to Smith’s allegations, “in the early morning darkness
(on September 1, 2010), Defendant’s driver, Cecil Slone, operated
Defendant’s loaded tractor-trailer down Robinson Creek and, when
Slone reached the junction with US 23, he failed to concede the right-of-way
to Plaintiff, who was operating his vehicle south on US 23 in a safe and
reasonable way, and Slone—perhaps because he was in a ‘hurry’
to get his cargo to market—pulled his loaded vehicle onto US 23
in front of Plaintiff, causing a violent crash which caused serious, substantial
and permanent injuries to Plaintiff (who, finally released from a hospital,
now requires a wheelchair and a caregiver).”

Smith’s suit—filed by Kirk Law Firm against Chaney Enterprises,
a Pikeville Company owned by Mark Chaney—alleges damages to Smith
spine, brain and limbs “exceeding $10 million” for past and
future “hospitalization and medical treatment,” for “permanent
disability, use of a wheelchair and need for a caregiver,” for “past,
present and future physical pain and suffering,” for “past,
present and future psychological problems as well as other personal and
financial issues,” and damages because Plaintiff “is permanently
unable to return to the high-paying type of work he had done for several
years.” Smith was employed in the coal mining industry.

The lawsuit alleges that since the Defendant was “paid by the load”
of coal delivered from a mining site to market, there was an “incentive”
for the driver to “hurry”. An allegation was also made that
a “large, loaded, tractor-trailer (coal truck), as it travels upon
public roadways, is a ‘dangerous vehicle’ and that the driver
“owed a duty to Jason Smith (and every other driver he encountered)
to operate his loaded tractor-trailer coal truck in a careful, lawful
and prudent manner and to maintain control of his vehicle at all times.”
Smith’s suit also asks for “punitive damages’ because
the driver of the coal truck allegedly breached various safety laws. The
suit also asked for a Jury Trial and for such other relief “which
is just and proper.”